Dover relay teams off to a good start

DOVER - For almost four months, Eric Batista
survived the rigors of football's daily practices and 11 hotly
contested games without serious injury.

Now, with winter track season in high gear,
the speedster's foot comes in second to a car door and Batista was
on the sidelines last Saturday in the 21st annual DeSchriver
Invitational at Drew University in Madison, the second meet of the
2000-01 winter track season.

"It was a freak thing," said Dover coach
Wayne Valentine. "He was getting into the car and somebody closed
the door and it just clipped his toe."

Batista ran on it Thursday night in the
Morris County Holiday Relays, the first of seven invitationals run
by the Morris County Track Coaches Association.

He teamed with Kahlil Harris, Craig Johnson
and Brad Schmidt to win the 1,600-meter sprint medley in 3:43.57,
more than four seconds faster than second-place West Milford
(3:47.90).

Valentine rested Batista in the 4x400-meter
relay and the Tigers finished second with Harris, Johnson, Schmidt
and Juan Rivera running.

West Milford was timed in 3:42.37 and Dover
ran a 3:43.32 and might have done better had not Schmidt been
knocked to the infield on the anchor leg and, although he quickly
recovered, he couldn't catch the West Milford anchor.

With Batista joining Harris, Johnson and
Rivera for the 4x200, the Tigers again finished second, this time
to Union's 1:37.75. Dover's time was 1:38.42.

Dover's only other medals for the night came
in the girls high jump where Anne Marie Czapka and Danielle
McConnell combined for an 8-11 to finish in a three-way tie for
sixth. Hunterdon Central won the event with a 9-10.

The only other Citizen Area medal winners in
the meet were in the girls shuttle hurdle relay, where Morris
Knolls finished fifth, and in the 4x200 relay, where Montville
finished sixth.

On Saturday, Valentine decided to keep
Batista out of the DeSchriver Invitational and ordered the senior
speedster to stay at home.

"We will need him more down the line, later
in the season," Valentine explained. "At this time, some rest will
do us all more good than having him compete."

The Dover 4x400 relay team was also without
Rivera, who missed the meet because of a family
commitment.

The quartet of Harris, Johnson, freshman
Mike Bibbs and Schmidt finished second to Metuchen (3:38.67),
running a 3:39.75.

Schmidt again lost time on his anchor leg,
this time getting cut off and having to slow down to avoid a
collision.

"He still ran a 52.4, and that was less than
a half hour after he had run and won the 1,000-meter race,"
Valentine said. "He made up 35 to 40 yards on his leg … an
outstanding effort all things considered."

Valentine also had praise for freshman
Bibbs, who turned in a 55.2 which Valentine called "… outstanding
for a freshman."

Bibbs also finished second in the freshman
55-meter dash, tying the then-existing meet record of 7.19. He was
out-leaned at the finish by Hunterdon Central's Jayson Reid, who
finished in a meet record 7.14.

The only other freshman race on the card was
a 600-meter run and, even though Bibbs is a sprinter, he asked that
Valentine enter him, using the reasoning that the race was "…only
three laps," and he could handle that.

Not only did Bibbs "handle" the race, he won
it by three seconds and set a meet record of 1:34.06 in the
process, breaking the previous best of 1:34.65 set in
1965.

"I knew he was fast but what I didn't know
was how he would handled the extra distance," Valentine said.
"Obviously, he handled it well.

"I really believe he may end up being a half
miler unless, of course, he is very good in the
sprints."

Schmidt added a victory in the 600 to his
gold medal run in the 1,000.

The senior, who is currently ranked No. 2 in
the nation in the 1,000-meter run, was timed in 1:25.71 in the 600
and 2:42.84 in the 1,000.

"Brad ran well for us in both meets,"
Valentine said. "He ran strong anchors for us in the relays and ran
smart races in the 600 and 1,000 … he had good leads in both
races."

Harris also won a medal for the Tigers
Saturday, finishing fourth in the 55-meter sprint in 6.97.
Madison's David Snell won the race in 6.76.

The only other Citizen Area to medal in the
boys events was Steve Denninger of Morris Knolls, who placed sixth
in the 300-meter with a time of 38.19. Tim Wilson of Randolph won
in 36.79.

Two locals won medals in the girls division
as Lindsay Aagre of Morris Hills placed sixth in the high jump with
a leap of 4-10 and Rachel Pizzano of Morris Hills was sixth in the
55-meter sprint with a time of 7.90.

The winter track series continues Thursday
(Dec. 28) with the Tony Passerelli Invitational and Saturday (Dec.
30) with the Valentine Invitational. Both meets are at Drew with 9
a.m. starting times.

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